U.S. allows Corbett alternative to Medicaid expansion

The U.S. government has approved a plan by Gov. Tom Corbett to provide health coverage to an estimated 600,000 Medicaid-eligible Pennsylvanians. Corbett is shown in September introducing his Health PA alternative to Medicaid expansion.(AP file photo)

About Mary Wilson

Mary Wilson is the state capitol reporter for Pennsylvania's public radio stations, including WITF in Harrisburg, WHYY in Philadelphia and WESA in Pittsburgh.

Mary came to Harrisburg after a year of being a catch-all staffer for a Maryland politician. Partisanship was a drag, but other things stuck. She has great empathy for those who have spent hours folding sample ballots and building campaign signs. Before that, she was a part-time show host and cub reporter at WFUV-FM in New York City. She covered the closing of the old Yankee stadium and narrated the scene of Harlem on the night of the 2008 presidential election. Mary graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx with majors in history and Italian.

The federal government has approved Gov. Tom Corbett's alternative to Medicaid expansion, the culmination of a roughly year-long negotiation to use federal money to subsidize private insurance plans for low-income Pennsylvanians.

The Corbett administration estimates more than 600,000 people are eligible.

Jennifer Branstetter, the governor's policy director, said the approved alternative does not represent an expansion of Medicaid as authorized by the federal Affordable Care Act.

"Gov. Corbett made it very clear from the beginning this was about reform first and increased access to Pennsylvania's working poor second," Branstetter said. "The whole premise of applying for a waiver is the fact that we wanted to do something different from Medicaid expansion. If we wanted to expand Medicaid, we could have flipped that switch."

The governor's office touted Thursday the approved changes to the state's Medicaid program, including a requirement to pay monthly premiums for anyone at 100 percent of the federal poverty level. That's a single person making about $12,000 a year, or a family of four living on $24,000 a year.

The premiums would be 2 percent of household income and begin in 2016. They would also apply to people enrolled in the newly available private plans.

Anyone who fails to make their premiums for three months in a row would be dropped from coverage. People could cut their premiums by up to 50 percent by engaging in job-search or job-training activities, though neither is required to receive coverage.

About 55,000 people now enrolled in Pennsylvania's Medicaid program will become ineligible as of next year, and must switch to private plans for coverage.

Enrollment in the private health care plans is slated to begin in December. Coverage is expected to begin in January.

The administration expects the plan to save the commonwealth $125 million this fiscal year, and $600 million next fiscal year.

Members of the Corbett administration said they would not need legislative approval to implement the federally approved HealthyPA plan. They could not speculate about whether the plan would be jeopardized by a change in the governor's office.

"I think it would be unfortunate for whoever's in office January to undo this," said Branstetter.

Corbett is up for re-election in November. His Democratic opponent, Tom Wolf, supports Medicaid expansion.

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